- In 2013, car production in Britain will be very close to that of  France. This particular situation has not happened since 1968! Production in France has been going particularly well between 1972 to 2007 : for 35 years, the volume of vehicles produced in this country didn't yet exceed 3 million units per year. At the same time, England saw its automotive industry perish with the fall of British Leyland and Rootes group, coupled with the extinction of many famous brands.

- The many models offshored from France to other countries (Spain, Turkey, Eastern Europe) and the decline in car segments D / E and minivan sales, and the failure of electric cars have reduced production in France to a trickle. In contrast, in England, the success of the flagship models : Nissan Qashqai, Nissan Juke, BMW Mini, Land Rover Evoque, Toyota Auris boosted UK car production after 2009.

- The results : in 2013, the production volume of both countries which is substantially equivalent, with still a slight advantage for France. The coming months will be decisive. The launch of the new Peugeot 308 and the transfer of Renault Trafic and Nissan Primastar to Sandouville could boost auto production in France. The arrival of the new generation Nissan Qashqai and BMW Mini launched in 2014, and the Infiniti Q30 should not allow British production to overtake that of France.

- Today, production capacity remains stable at 3 million in France and 2 million in Britain. Proof that utilization rate of plants in France is very low. 

  

- The Opel plant in Zaragoza, Spain will have produced less than 240 000 vehicles in 2013 (the objectives of the manufacturer were 280 000), which is one of the worst figures registered by the plant over the past twenty years. But the site of Zaragoza should bounce back next year as Opel has provided a considerable recovery plan including the arrival of new models, including models from abroad.

- The carmaker plans to produce 480 000 units in 2017 (Inovev estimates 420 000 units), in other words double the production in four years. To achieve such a volume, Opel has scheduled the arrival of the Mokka mini-SUV in 2014, the new generation Meriva in 2016 and the new generation Corsa in 2017 coupled with the production of the new generation Citroën C3 Picasso in 2016 (transferred from the PSA plant of Trnava to Zaragoza, thanks to the recent agreement between GM and PSA).

- En 2014, Opel therefore foresees the Zaragoza production at 20 000 units  for the Mokka, 60 000 for the Meriva, 145 000 (5 door) Corsa, 35 000 (3 door) Corsa, transferred from the German Eisenach plant where they were exclusively manufactured, to the Spanish plant of Zaragoza. And 25 000 redesigned Corsa (Their launch is programmed for 2014), in other words 285 000 vehicles in total.

- It won't be before 2015 that the activity of the Spanish site will take a real boom in production with the rise of the face lifted  Mokka and Corsa ,  and then in 2016 with the arrival of new generation Meriva and Citroen C3 Picasso.